


Lucky

by Eliniita



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Family, Family Feels, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Parent Donald Duck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-24
Updated: 2019-04-24
Packaged: 2020-01-25 18:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18580408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliniita/pseuds/Eliniita
Summary: Huey's hurt that Donald doesn't consider himself successful after raising the boys. They hash it out. Set after "The Town Where Everyone Was Nice'. Complete.





	Lucky

"...You raised three boys, and are rich in love, isn't that the true measure of success?"

"No"

Huey Duck tossed and turned. He threw his pillow over his head, and then threw it on the floor. The boy could. Not. Sleep.

The 10 year old frowned before slowly opening his eyes, reaching for his phone and groaning at the bright screen. 1:32 AM. There was a unbearable notion of panic and dread that filled him. Tomorrow was Monday. That meant it was a school night. That meant he'd have a hard time waking up, a hard time concentrating, what if there was a quiz? What if he failed?!

"Ahhh!" He yelled as he shot up and started breathing much too quickly.

"Shut up!" His brother yelled, throwing a pillow at his face, which knocked him back down, and oddly enough, stopped him from going into full blown panic.

"Thank Dewey" Huey whispered as he got out of bed and ran towards the kitchen. Maybe he just needed a nice glass of water.

He knew what was bothering him, he had known it would eat at him the moment that it happened, but Huey was great at hiding his feelings. He was really good at fixing other people's problems. Still, when the cause of his feelings was casually sitting in the kitchen with a cup of coffee, Huey was startled.

"Oh!"

At that, Donald looked up and gave him a phony smile that was all too easy to see through.

"Couldn't sleep?" The older Duck asked, and Huey returned the fake smile.

"I...no."

"Well, take a seat. Join the misery" He whispered, and that was all it took. Huey's smile was gone now, replaced by the hurt he'd felt all day.

"If you're so miserable, why are you even here?!"

At the sudden outburst, Donald Duck's eyes shot up so fast, and his arm jerked back, taking his mug of coffee with it, landing with a 'crash' on the white kitchen floor. He watched as his kid jumped in surprise, apologized and then ran to grab a dishtowel to clean up the mess that he'd caused, and that's when it hit him. Huey had been cleaning up a lot of Donald's messes.

"Sorry, Uncle Donald, I didn't mean to..."

"...I'll get the broom" Was all that Donald could think to say, and it made him feel like even more of a loser. The trip with his best friends hadn't gone as expected. It had been so great to see them, it had, and yeah maybe all three of them were a bunch of knuckleheads, but that didn't really lesson his failures did it?

After he cleaned up the broken pieces of the his coffee mug, he turned to his oldest nephew. Huey was giving him a worried look, and Donald figured he might as well clarify a few things.

"I'm not mad"

"...Okay."

"Are you mad?" It wasn't something he normally asked, the truth was that no matter how much he loved the boys, he wasn't the best at communicating with them. He'd never really been able to communicate well with anyone. He had a temper and was just so good at feeling sorry for himself. It didn't leave much room for anything else, which was something that Daisy had mentioned, the last time she'd slammed the door in his face.

When the boy didn't respond, Donald pointed to the seat next to him, and smiled genuinely when Huey actually went over and sat down.

"I wasn't very fair to you today, sometimes...I forget that you're my kid, and I think you're my...I don't know, my best friend."

At that, Huey looked up at his uncle in surprise. What? "Uh...what?"

"Yeah, you're just so bright Huey. You're reliable, you make everything better, I can count on you. You make me feel like things will be okay, and that's not fair. Cause I'm the adult, and stuff."

"I like that you can count on me. I... I just..."

"You can tell me"

"You said we weren't enough, Uncle Donald. Us loving you isn't enough to make you feel successful... are you unhappy?" Oh.

Oh. Damn.

Donald mentally kicked himself for having been so caught up in the moment with his friends, that he hadn't realized what he was expressing. Was he unhappy? How truthful could he be with a 10 year old?

"Huey...I... I love you boys, you are everything to me, and ..."

"You're avoiding the question."

"You're pressuring me!" Donald admitted, laughing, trying to find the right words.

"Just...give me a second" At that, Huey felt his heart drop. He had hoped his uncle could just say he was happy, even if it was a lie,Huey would have pretended to believe him, but now Donald couldn't even pretend.

"I am happy. You boys bring me so much joy, and you are the best thing in my life."

"...but you don't think that makes you successful?"

"I guess I never thought of it that way. I've lost so much, Huey, and there is this emptiness in me. I feel lost a lot of the time, like...how are you boys even still alive? I could never keep any of my plants alive...I wish I could give you boys so much more."

"But we don't need any more... I mean, obviously we're in Uncle Scrooge's Mansion right now, that's not what I mean, we could be back in the boathouse or wherever, and we'd be okay, because we have you and you love us." Huey went in for a hug, and felt whole when it was returned.

"Well then, I guess that makes me the luckiest duck in the world, huh?"

"Pretty much"

End


End file.
